A beautiful rendition of Hallelujah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N6WJhExWN8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Red bead necklace...my version

 I was looking through the Fire Mountain Gem catalog and I saw this stunning red necklace.  The catalog directed me to their "Gallery" and provided a list of supplies needed for this gorgeous necklace.  It did not however provide the directions for assembly. The necklace would have cost me several hundred dollars ( using the suggested crystals and gold findings).  I however, purchased similar acrylic beads and gold finish findings at Walmart for under $20.00..including earrings. Jewelry doesn't need to be expensive!!!


What do you think of my knock off necklace?

Wyoming bound

I also made a simple pretty necklace for my friend Sherry in Wyoming....A silver chain with a large beautiful peach/pink pearl and a few aqua colored beads made a nice color combination.

* "MOP" #2 necklace

My second attempt at finding a use for the many extra imitation...(very shiny and pearly and vintage all the same) "MOP" buttons I've acquired lately. I used wire only (no silk cording) and wired every button and pearl on one strand (twisting the beading wire and button together as I went).  When completed to the length I wanted, I then took a thin wired ribbon and wrapped in around the center wire. This covered the wires and gave support to the buttons/pearls. I attached a traditional silver lobster claw closure to finish.




























32

I Love tools!!

I love tools!!
My husband introduced me to pipe cutters and benders.
I've been making all kinds of copper and aluminum beads now thanks to his help. Copper tubing can be expensive, but I found relatively inexpensive rolls of copper tubing used for refrigerator water lines at Home Depot.  I've mostly been making beads, but this was the first necklace I made using a curved piece of copper and wire and
strung with other beads on a thin
copper chain.

second copper tube necklace

First Copper  bead  Necklace

Black MOP shank buttons

What to do with a bag of beautiful silky black, MOP, carved shank, vintage buttons? String them like beads!

I had one problem: I had two kinds of carved buttons. One group was carved thinner than the majority of the other buttons and they did not bead well (they didn't overlap right). So I made a pendant of sorts of the flatter,thinner, buttons and then strung the other thicker buttons for the necklace strands.



 I attached a ready made silk cord (from Asian City store) which saved a lot of time and I now have a silky smooth strand of black pearls....I mean MOP buttons.!

MOP button necklace #3: Count beads!

Button update: 

I found some stiff beading/knotting cord at the Asian City store in West Jordan, Utah  (Love the store!) and made another attempt at making the MOP necklace...including more bead work. It turned out great, but took 3× the amount of cording than expected. All those knots take up a lot of string!! And the necklace turned out longer in length than expected. I had the whole thing tied up and finished...or so I thought. ...until I noticed I was a section of beads too many on one side. Grrrrr. I don't mind tying knots, but I really hate untying knots... teaching me an important lesson:

 Count beads Sheila! Count beads!

Purple birthday

I needed to make some different type of jewelry after making all those MOP button necklaces. So I pulled some beautiful purple beads together to make a birthday surprise for my friend JoAnn.

The necklace was really pretty,  but purple is a hard color to photograph. ..This picture really didn't show the lovely purple beads at their best.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Captain!

 

MOP buttons

What do you do with a whole bag of 1/2" mother of pearl shank buttons?

String/overlap them together!! They give the soft silky warm pearl feeling and weight  without the top dollar prices of regular pearls. 

 They are pearls after all.. Just in button form!!

I've sold quite a few of these necklaces using different sizes, colors, and forms of these shank buttons.

Extra Mother-of- pearl (MOP)) buttons

Button update:

     I have accumulated quite a few of vintage MOP/mother-of-pearl buttons. I love the cool silky feel of the buttons and wanted to make a necklace, but couldn't figure out a different way to use the buttons. I then saw a picture of a necklace made from MOP buttons on pinterest and gave it a try. I started on this project two days ago and began  thinking I'd bitten off more than I could handle...really frustrating.. But in the end it turned out nice and I found a way to repurpose all the MOP vintage buttons accumulating in my button coffers.

     I started by stringing the buttons on silk cord, but the 

cord wouldn't hold up the buttons. I tried wired ribbon..didn't 

work. Next I tried wire....this started me down the right path. I

 put on a button, twisted the button on the wire, moved down

 a bit twisted on another button. This gave me the 

scaffolding for the rest of the buttons. Then I strung and tied 

the buttons on silk string with slip knots and wound the

 silk/button string around the wired buttons. I filled in with

pearls and more buttons until I got to the end of the wired 

string. I then tied the two strings together with wired ribbon and

 wound the wire ribbon around 

the center strings and between the buttons. It gave the necklace 

even more support and covered up the wire and knots. I covered 

up the end of the lines (wire,ribbon,string) by making a

series of slip knots to finish the necklace. Whew...complicated!!! 

But silky smooth and I've had many compliments every time

 I wear it.

Vintage lace and copper beads

Trial and error..always trying something new. This was a fragile piece of lace..so I  again used a wired ribbon to give the lace support. ....supported it enough to allow me to bead the lace with copper beads (I made the copper beads from tubing). I wrapped the lace around the wire/pearls and threaded wire, ribbon, and lace through each copper bead.








It got too complicated at the end...tried to get too cleaver...
didn't work.....needed to simplify.

So I took it apart and tried again...  Much nicer this try!!!!!

Chaining lace?

How to use this lovely fragile lace? I tried several things, but ended up using this terrific large loop, fine wire chain. This chain supported the lace...did not  overpower the lace.  I "wove" the lace through the chain, added a few beads, a lace clasp and neck chain....made a really pretty necklace  that was surprisingly easy.

Do Over

Do over.  I just didn't like the original necklace design....so I simplified using two pretty silver buttons, a silver wire coil and some larger silver pearl beads to anchor the bottom...better!!!

Saving lace

I acquired several yards of antique lace carefully wrapped and preserved..it had a note attached about the lace. It was purchased at ZCMI (Utah store) in 1900  by the Manti town dressmaker.  It is an interesting black cotton lace with silver metallic threads. I tried beading a bit of lace but pretty  brittle.  So I backed the lace with black satin ribbon for support and pulled out my MOP ring beads.  I used a head pin and some beads to turn the rings into "buckles" and this allowed me to gently weave the ribbon/lace through the "buckles" for decoration.   I added a couple large hole crystal beads to decorate the bottom "tails" a bit . 

Button find of the week

As I was working on yet another necklace, I ran across a few beautiful buttons in my button stash and wanted to share their beauty...

The little flower button in the center seems innocent enough...but it is polished almost to a glass finish...so shiny for such a small button.
 
The bottom middle button is glass, but has a gold Masonic? imprint.

Middle right button is carved glass..again lots of detail for such a tiny button...

The "cat's eye" green button simply wowed  me with color.

The top left is a small mother- of- pearl, hand carved, self shanking button..very old.

The other buttons, well just gorgeous. (MOP) mother-of pearl-buttons always grab my attention.

B/W

Request for a B/W  necklace..Christmas gift...two more to go.  Vintage and newer buttons/bead mix.  These necklaces are shiny and jingly..my granddaughters loved them.

Keep it simple....

I reworked a former piece... The original one was just too complicated.
Keep it simple....a lesson from many events in life...also applies to making jewelry.  Sometimes simple is plenty enough.

My first vintage button necklace

This was my very first attempt at repurposing old vintage buttons into something "re- new".  I've been hooked on re-using vintage buttons and lace ever since. I love the jingle, clinky sound of the old buttons in a  necklace.   Every button tells a story too... ..I would like to believe that the two gold "c" buttons belonged to my grandmother Nora Caroline Keller. She liked nice clothing...so did my grandfather who worked in a nice men's clothing store for many years.  Maybe that's where I get my appreciation of neat old buttons and beautiful vintage lace...I don't know--but I'm getting a unique chance to showcase shiny buttons and vintage lace of times long ago. I still think my grandmother is smiling about the "c" buttons though!!

Groovey black onyx

I love the silky smooth texture and heaviness of vintage black onyx buttons and beads. I like the clinky noise they make in necklaces.  Many vintage buttons were made of polished black onyx..often nicknamed "hammered nail" buttons?  Black onyx sparkles depending on the facets cut & polished into the stone.. and there are many facet patterns.   My favorite Pattern cut in onyx: checkerboard. see #2 picture.

Beads and buttons

A recent creation for a dear friend!

I used a chain for the necklace but strung beads over the chain as well.
Added vintage buttons, large hole wood & stone beads. The pendant was a wood looking vintage Bakelite button layered with two pretty blue vintage buttons on top. The aqua blue colors and wood beads really worked well together!!

Beautiful buttons

I
I'm always on the lookout for vintage buttons: garage sales, friends and family button stashes, second hand stores, internet sales, etc.  I like random mixes...I never know what I'll find. Every jar of buttons that I bring home, has some hidden treasures, exquisite beauties, historical implications, rhinestones, cut glass.... These are a few cool buttons that have found their way into my button/beading/jewelry collections recently.....


The green button may be jade..

The picture doesn't show the intense  shiny blue green  glass button..

The little gold button is cut glass.

The star brass button/probably civil war vintage.

The woodsy button in the middle is cut glass.

The white carved button..ivory?

The tiny square button...what was this created for?

Upper left...wood buttons.

The blue/gold buttons...simply beautiful.



A wee bit of lace

 
A wee bit of worn vintage lace, wire, beads, a little needle work....fun project. ..but didn't realize until project was completed that some of the heart beads are upside down... oh well.

Repurposed vintage lace for Breast Cancer Awareness

This beautiful piece of lace deserved to be shown off.  The lace had openings woven into the pattern, so I threaded/wove a satin ribbon through the openings to help support the lace.  Then I used my sewing machine to stitch the lace + ribbon to the fuchsia wired ribbon for support and color. 
I gathered the ends together and enclosed the ribbon ends and the pendant inside the brass barrel bead.

This really turned out to  be a really pretty piece...pink!!! and reminded me of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 


As a Breast Cancer Survivor  I can tell you the inconvenience/agony from yearly mammograms is NOTHING  compared to the surgery/chemo/radiation/reconstruction of breast cancer....So from experience, I urge all ages of women:

1-Get those mammies grammed!!
2- Do regular self exams and get to your doctor if any changes.
3-Early detection is soooooo important but 99% curable if detected early.
4-Be very careful about using hormone replacement treatments for symptoms of menopause. These hormone replacements are chemical cocktails that often trigger breast cancer.

This necklace is my own "Think Pink" cancer survivor Medal...

1900 lace surprisingly strong

I acquired several yards of a vintage 1900 lace , and at first I thought it would be too  brittle to bead (I would need to reinforce it with ribbon or wire.) The lace is a lose open weave with a metalic thread. I tried several slide-on beads with large hole openings and the lace held up bead after bead. The pendant is made up of several vintage buttons....the beads are "modern vintage inspired" beads. Fun, fast project on vintage lace that was surprisingly strong.

The Kitchen Sink

Button Update:

This one I'm calling "the kitchen sink" because I threw everything at this project: vintage lace  and buttons, beads, needle work, wiring, findings, ribbon, chain...whew.

This was another project that started with a small piece of lace and my brain thinking, "Oh I can just do this and that..." and then unexpected details turn a simple project into a challenge.

But isn't that what life is all about? We can plan all we want for a good life and the unexpected is always there ..lurking...to knock us off track and teach us a lesson. My "unexpected' is PD....it's teaching me to enjoy life the best I can for now. My crazy jewelry making is enjoyable and keeping my hands moving and brain engaged...which on many days is a challenge.

Beading for PD is my new mantra ... smile!!!

 

MORE WORK THAN ANTICIPATED

  All I can say is this....I got my flu shot (and apparently there are two flu types of shots available...mine was a dual cocktail..and so I've had a sore arm and flu symptoms for two days.  While I've been recuperating I've been trying to finish this necklace....which leads me to my

Button update:
  Honestly,  I about lost my mind doing this necklace.  How such a simple piece of lace got so complicated so quickly is beyond me.  I stiffened the lace with fabric stiffener. Then I started to attach pearls with wire, but the wire didn't work with the delicate lace. Switched to using thin ribbon, but one ribbon wouldn't tie the pearls on right...switched to two ribbons to lace and tie.  Then decided to added the beads..oiy. Trying to figure out how to add the pendant part became another moment of insanity. I quit counting the time it's taken to make this...Finally done?  (still a few ribbon/bead touch up work, but mostly done).
This is a long piece , about 40 inches of vintage lace....beading, lacing, such a long piece takes time but it has turned out quite beautiful. I'll think twice about time requirements when working on piece of lace this long after this project.

Dos vintage

From the box of broken jewelry bits, I also created this pretty piece!  I used vintage buttons & beads...plus a few modern findings...